Trends in Patient Complexity, Practice Setting, and Surgeon Reimbursement for Urolithiasis: Do Rural Urologists Pay the Price?

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between patient complexity, practice setting, and surgeon reimbursement for ureteroscopy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL).

Methods: The "2021 Medicare Physician and Other Provider" file was used to collect Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes and hierarchical condition category (HCC) scores of urologists. Higher HCC score corresponds to higher medical complexity and higher RUCA code corresponds to a more rural area. Medicare reimbursement for ureteroscopy and PCNL were collected. Linear regressions were performed to predict change in reimbursement based on RUCA and HCC scores.

Results: In 2021, 52,816 procedures under Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code 52356 (ureteroscopy) and 1649 procedures under 50080 or 50081 (PCNL) were billed to Medicare. Mean reimbursement was $338.24 for ureteroscopy and $957.89 for PCNL. For ureteroscopy, higher HCC score predicted lower reimbursement (P <.001). Higher HCC score predicted higher reimbursement for PCNL (P <.01). Average RUCA for ureteroscopy was higher than for PCNL (P = .02). Rural location predicted lower reimbursement for ureteroscopy (P <.001), however, there was no association for PCNL.

Conclusion: For ureteroscopy, higher-risk patients are associated with lower reimbursement while the opposite holds true for PCNL. Rural practices were associated with lower reimbursement for ureteroscopy, but there was no association between location and PCNL reimbursement. Together, these findings suggest practice pattern variation between ureteroscopy and PCNL and highlight gaps in reimbursement policy. Risk-adjusted reimbursement should be considered to incentivize urologists to treat complex patients within their practice scope.